Chapter 81: Some Cry, Some Laugh

“Bro, just tell me straight—what are we gonna do?”

Li Dayong, upon learning Li Ye’s intention to “deal with” Xia Yue and the others, immediately got excited and rubbed his hands together.

Li Ye nodded toward Xia Yue and the others and asked, “Where do you think they’ll apply?”

Li Dayong replied at once: “I already found out—Jin Shengli was originally going to apply to Zicheng Agricultural Machinery Academy, but now he wants to apply to the Provincial Light Industry College.”

“Xia Yue was supposed to apply to Qufu Normal College, but lately she’s been corresponding frequently with Lu Jingyao—it seems she’s developed a desire to go to Jingcheng.”

“Hm?”

Li Ye said, slightly surprised: “Both of them have raised their goals?”

Zicheng Agricultural Machinery Academy and the Provincial Light Industry College both offer associate programs, but their admission scores differ significantly—possibly by over twenty points.

Taking another step forward after reaching the hundred-foot pole is extremely difficult; those twenty points might take years of retaking the exam and still not be surpassed.

Li Dayong looked at Li Ye and said: “You know, since the New Year, Lu Jingyao has been regularly mailing Gaokao materials to Xia Yue and the others, so they feel they can achieve a much better score this year.”

Li Ye nodded slightly, a faint smile appearing on his face: “Confidence is good. As classmates, we should help them become even more confident.”

“Better yet, we should get them to apply for undergraduate programs—in Jingcheng.”

Li Dayong: “.........”

【Bro, what are you talking about? We’re enemies with Xia Yue and the others! And... why does your smile look so much like Cao Cao’s on stage?】

But Li Dayong, though outwardly rough, was inwardly sharp—he understood Li Ye’s meaning within a few breaths.

“Ssshh~ Brother, you’re planning to alter their application preferences? That’s not easy—I can’t climb through the guidance office’s tiny window!”

Li Ye clasped his hands together, flexing his fingers, and said coldly: “Dayong, we can’t break the law. The best strategy is to make them fill out undergraduate preferences themselves.”

“...........”

Li Ye smiled silently at the stunned Li Dayong.

If he had read a book called The Son-in-Law and known the story of the inner demon Ning Liheng, he’d understand what it meant to kill without shedding blood.

Li Dayong fell silent for a while, then hesitated: “Brother, isn’t this... a bit too cruel?”

Li Ye remained silent for a long moment, then nodded slightly: “It is a bit cruel. Let’s see how it plays out.”

“My estimated score is 330–350—I should be able to try applying for an associate program now...”

“I’m a bit lower—around 310–320—but I’m definitely safe for associate or vocational.”

“The study materials from Jingcheng are amazing—I felt like a divine hand guided my pen during the math exam, I finished it all in one go...”

“Exactly! Lu Jingyao is so loyal—unlike some people, asking them to explain a problem feels like asking them to give up their life...”

Inside the classroom, close classmates formed several small groups, discussing enthusiastically.

Amid the chatter, many would glance toward Li Ye’s eight-member clique and let out quiet laughs—no one knew exactly what they meant.

Li Ye just smiled.

Let them be happy.

Li Ye knew about Lu Jingyao mailing Gaokao materials to Xia Yue and the others—because the money to buy the materials had been pooled by the class.

Since the New Year, Xia Yue and the others had been in frequent contact with Jingcheng—at least one or two letters per week.

Lu Jingyao had gone all out for their Gaokao, even managing to get Xia Yue some of the most famous Gaokao review materials of the era.

Xia Yue and the others treasured them like priceless relics, forming a three-person “Book Guard Unit,” keeping the materials pressed beside their pillows even while sleeping.

Then they divided the students of Retake Class One into groups, copying and studying the materials in batches.

Li Ye’s eight-member clique, of course, had no access.

Li Ye didn’t care—the Gaokao review materials compiled by the Haidian Teachers’ Training School in Jingcheng were indeed excellent for the late 70s and early 80s, but to Li Ye, who possessed a biological hard drive, they were nothing special.

While you’re clutching a county-level cultivation technique and toiling in secret, dreaming of mastering divine arts and ruling the world, our eight-member clique is using heavenly-level techniques to wipe our asses.

“Teacher’s coming!”

Someone shouted, and the noisy classroom erupted into chaos—students scattered from their groups and scrambled back to their seats.

The guidance director, Tang Feiyu, walked in beaming, followed by Luo, the homeroom teacher of Retake Class One.

Some students immediately sensed something was off—guidance directors rarely entered classrooms, and when they did, it was always bad news.

And bad news was far more likely than good.

But Tang Feiyu’s face was glowing with joy—surely today was good news?

“First, I’d like to congratulate you all—your Retake Class One achieved outstanding results in this year’s provincial preliminary exam... 41 out of 52 students passed the cutoff.”

“........”

“Whoa, 41 people?”

“Damn, 41 people? That’s nearly ten more than last year!”

Most students in Retake Class One burst into excited chatter.

Among the 52 in the retake class were “veterans” like Jin Shengli, who had retaken the exam three times, “new recruits” like Li Ye, who failed last year, and others who hadn’t even passed the preliminary exam last year.

The screening rate for the preliminary exam exceeded two-thirds, but that two-thirds wasn’t evenly distributed across classes.

Current graduates were the hardest hit—they could only benefit from the “surviving one-third” after entering a retake class.

As the elite class of County No. 2 High, Retake Class One’s pass rate was naturally higher than one-third, but reaching 78% was far beyond anyone’s expectations.

For students who had been at the bottom of Class One, this was excellent news.

Out of 52 students, only 11 failed—so... it probably won’t be me?

“Cough~ I’ll announce the top twenty first.”

Tang Feiyu immediately took over what should have been Luo’s moment, reading aloud from the ranking list.

Luo, standing helplessly to the side, wore a look of bitter resentment.

This was supposed to be his moment of glory!

After hundreds of days of teaching and nurturing, to have his moment stolen—wasn’t it like spending ten thousand yuan on fireworks, only to have a brat light the fuse in broad daylight?

【Twentieth place: Yang Shugao, 316 points.】

【Nineteenth place.........】

【Fourteenth place: Qi Meijuan, 339 points.】

A girl with two braids in the classroom stared at Tang Feiyu in shock, convinced he’d misread.

Before the New Year, Qi Meijuan had ranked ninth in the county-wide exam; after the New Year, she’d hovered around seventh or eighth—her performance had always been stable.

How had she suddenly dropped out of the top ten to fourteenth?

【Ninth place: Zhuang Hongxing, 361 points.】

“Wow, 361 points—that’s enough to try for an associate program.”

A chorus of envy rose in the classroom.

But Zhuang Hongxing, with his signature streaks of white hair, looked crestfallen.

He had risen from Retake Class Three to Retake Class One after last year’s final exam, when he’d ranked second in his class.

But in recent exams, he’d been stuck between fourth and sixth.

Hearing his ninth-place ranking wasn’t entirely surprising.

Some reasons he couldn’t voice—he felt Xia Yue and the others subtly excluded him, making it hard to share study materials.

Especially after he picked up Lu Jingyao’s package from the reception office—this exclusion became even more obvious.

Because Lu Jingyao’s package was addressed to “Retake Class One,” not to Xia Yue personally.

But Zhuang Hongxing was alone and powerless; even if he resented it, he could only swallow his frustration.

Sometimes he envied Li Ye’s “minority group”—though small, they were tightly united, and Zhuang Hongxing always had the impression

that Li Ye’s group, though quiet, carried an aura no weaker than their “majority group.”

【Eighth place: Li Dayong, 366 points.】

【Seventh place: Fu Yingjie, 369 points.】

【Sixth place: Han Xia, 373 points.】

【Fifth place.........】

As he reached this point, Tang Feiyu lifted his head and glanced down—the classroom had fallen utterly silent.

If Qi Meijuan’s drop to fourteenth and Zhuang Hongxing’s to ninth had merely puzzled people,

Li Dayong, Fu Yingjie, and Han Xia storming into the top ten was enough to stun everyone.

When had these three ever made the top ten?

Even during last year’s final exam, Li Dayong had barely scraped in at eleventh—and then vanished into the crowd.

What the hell was going on now?

Had all three of them reached the threshold for associate program applications?

This was ridiculous.

And several students who had normally ranked between tenth and twentieth looked utterly grim.

At first, when their names weren’t called, they’d thought they’d aced it and cracked the top ten.

Now it turned out that members of the eight-member clique had taken those spots—so who had been pushed out?

Also...

Slowly, many turned their heads to look.

Because five members of the eight-member clique still hadn’t been called, and they’d just announced sixth.

Xia Yue, whose name hadn’t been called yet, suddenly had a ridiculous thought.

【Impossible—I can’t be outside the top twenty... my estimated score is at least 380, unless...】

[Fifth place: Jin Shengli, 375 points.]

[Fourth place: Hu Man, 381 points.]

[Third place: Xia Yue, 404 points.]

“Huuu~~”

Xia Yue exhaled slowly, her clenched fists gradually relaxing.

But why…… didn’t she feel happy?

[Second place: Yan Jinbu, 406 points.]

[First place: Jiang Xiaoyan, 415 points.]

Xia Yue finally understood why she wasn’t happy.

Because she hadn’t gotten the first place she’d expected.

In an era when no official college entrance exam review materials existed on the market, the exam resources from the Haidian Teachers’ Training College in Jingcheng were genuinely invaluable.

Xia Yue was the designated recipient of the mail and head of the book-guard team, with absolute priority in reading and full authority over copying assignments.

Only after obtaining these materials did she realize the test papers distributed by the school last winter might have been the ones Li Ye had gone through great pains to acquire.

The two sets were nearly identical in effectiveness.

Later, when Li Ye ran out of papers, the scores of his self-study group members all plummeted.

Xia Yue believed she had finally seized her chance to turn things around—and had successfully grasped the key to solving problems.

Even Jin Shengli had understood less than she had.

The title of top seed at County No. 2 High School was hers for the taking.

But now…… why was she only third?

The more she thought about it, the more miserable she became. Even a score over 400 felt hollow.

“Those whose names I call may now pack up and leave. Those who wish to retake the exam next year should bring their parents to reapply.”

After announcing the top twenty, Tang Feiyu began reading another list—a list of only nine names.

“Pei Zizhi, Bao Hongbing……”

Those whose names were called turned pale and silently gathered their belongings.

Their college entrance exam process had ended early this year: either retake the exam for 1983, or abandon it forever and leave this battlefield.

Many students left in tears.

Suddenly, a student about to leave the classroom asked Tang Feiyu: “Director Tang, what scores did Li Ye and Wen Leyu get?”

Tang Feiyu paused, flipped to the second page of the score sheet, and said: “Li Ye: 305. Wen Leyu: 306.”

“Alright, go!”

Tang Feiyu waved the student away, then turned to Li Ye: “Li Ye, Principal Chang asked me to tell you to come see him after the scores are announced.”

「..........」

Many classmates in the classroom glanced at Li Ye with smug satisfaction.

But Jiang Xiaoyan and the others all grew worried.